Postal worker avoids prison for role in drug shipments

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A U.S. Postal Service employee worker will avoid prison for taking money from drug dealers for special deliveries to homes in western New York.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Buffalo says Thursday that Dennis Bernhard received a sentence of time served and supervised release that will include three months of confinement in his Derby home.

Authorities say the 56-year-old mail carrier was paid by drug dealers to provide addresses of unsuspecting people on his route in Buffalo. Then, he intercepted packages of drugs mailed to the addresses and turned them over to the dealers for $100 or more each. Bernhard pleaded guilty earlier to bribery.

Bernhard worked for the post office for 16 years.